A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

DRACONTIUS.
may be his making Dracon I. and Dracon II. two
distinct persons, by calling Dracon II. the grandson,
instead of the son, of Hippocrates II. [W.A.G.]
DRACO'NTIDES (Apaccowrinls), one of the
thirty tyrants established at Athens in B. c. 404.
(Xen. Hell. ii. 3. ~ 2.) He is in all probability
the same whom Lysias mentions (c. Erat. p. 126),
as having framed at that time the constitution,
according t6 which the Athenians were to be governed under their new rulers; and he is perhaps
also the disreputable person alluded to by Aristophanes as having been frequently condemned in
the Athenian courts of justice. ( Vesp. 157; Schol.
ad loc., comp. 438.) [E. E.]
DRACO'NTIUS, a Christian poet, of whose
personal history we know nothing, except that he
was a Spanish presbyter, flourished during the first
half of the fifth century, and died about A. D. 450.
His chief production, entitled Hlexa'meron, in heroic measure, extending. to 575 lines, contains a
description of the six days of the creation, in addition to which we possess a fragment in 198 elegiac
verses addressed to the younger Theodosius, in
which the author implores forgiveness of God for
certain errors in his greater work, and excuses
himself to the emperor for having neglected to celebrate his victories. Although the Hexaemeron
is by no means destitute of spirit, and plainly indicates that the writer had studied carefully the
models of classical antiquity, we can by no means
adopt the criticism of Isidorus: " Dracontius composuit heroicis versibus IHexa'meron creationis
mundi et luculenter, quod composuit, scripsit," if
we are to understand that any degree of clearness
or perspicuity is implied by the word licuienter,
for nothing is more characteristic of this piece than
obscurity of thought and perplexity of expression.
Indeed these defects are sometimes pushed to such
extravagant excess, that we feel disposed to agree
with Barthius (Advers. xxiii. 19), that Dracontius
did not always understand himself.
It is to be observed that the Hexae'meron exists
under two forms. It was published in its original
shape along with the Genesis of Claudius Marius
Victor, at Paris, 8vo. 1560; in the "Corpus Christianorum Poetarum," edited by G. Fabricius, Basil.
4to. 1564; with the notes of Weitzius, Franc
8vo. 1610; in the "Magna Bibliotheca Patrum,"
Colon. fol. 1618, vol. vi. par. 1; and in the " Bibliotheca Patrum," Paris, fol. 1624, vol. viii.
In the course of the seventh century, however,
Eugenius, bishop of Toledo, by the orders of king
Chindasuindus, undertook to revise, correct, and
improve the Six Days; and, not content with repairing and beautifying the old structure, supplied
what he considered a defect in the plan by adding
an account of the Seventh Day. In this manner
the performance was extended to 634 lines. The
enlarged edition was first published by Sirmond
along with the Opuscula of Eugenius, Paris, 8vo.
1619. In the second volume of Sirmond's works
(Ven. 1728), p. 890, we read the letter of EugeIius to Chindasuindus, from which we learn that
the prelate engaged in the task by the commands
of that prince; and in p. 903 we find the Elegy
addressed to Theodosius. The Eugenian version
was reprinted by Rivinus, Lips. 8vo. 1651, and in
the " Bibliotheca Maxima Patrum," Lugdun. vol.
ix. p. 724. More recent editions have appeared
by F. Arevalus, Rom. 4to. 1791, and by J. B.
Carpzovius, Helmst. 8vo. 1794.

DREPANIUS. 1073
(Isidorus, de Scrip. Eccl. c. 24; Honorius, de
Scrip. Eccles. lib. iii. c. 28; Ildefonsus, de Scrip.
Eccles. c. 14, all of whom will be found in the
Bibliotheca Ecclesiastica of Fabricius.)
The Dracontius mentioned above must not be
confounded with the Dracontius to whom Athanasius addressed an epistle; nor with the Dracontius on whom Palladius bestowed the epithets of
evSoeos and 4avteaa-O'r; nor with the Dracontius,
bishop of Pergamus, named by Socrates and Sozomenus. [W. R.]
DREPA'NIUS. It became a common practice,
in the times of Diocletian and his immediate successors, for provincial states, especially the cities of
Gaul, at that period peculiarly celebrated as the
nursing-mother of orators, to despatch deputations
from time to time to the imperial court, for the
purpose of presenting congratulatory addresses upon
the occurrence of any auspicious event, of returning
thanks for past benefits, and of soliciting a renewal
or continuance of favour and protection. The individual in each community most renowned for his
rhetorical skill would naturally be chosen to draw
up and deliver the complimentary harangue, which
was usually recited in the presence of the prince
himself. Eleven pieces of this description have
been transmitted to us, which have been generally
published together, under the title of " Duodecim
Panegyrici veteres," the speech of Pliny in honour
of Trajan being included to round off the number,
although belonging to a different age, and possessing
very superior claims upon our notice, while some
editors have added also the poem of Corippus in
praise of the younger Justin. [CoruIpus.] Of
the eleven which may with propriety be classed together, the first bears the name of Claudius Mamertinus, who was probably the composer of the
second also [MAMERTINUS]; the third, fourth,
sixth, and seventh are all ascribed to Eumenius,
with what justice is discussed elsewhere [EUMENIus]; the ninth is the work of Nazarius, who
appears to have written the eighth likewise; the
tenth belongs to a Mamertinus different from the
personage mentioned above; the eleventh is the
production of Drepanius, but the author of the fifth,
in honour of the nuptials of Constantine with
Fausta, the daughter of Maximianus (A. D. 307),
is altogether unknown.
Discourses of this description must for the most
part be as devoid of all sincerity and truth as they
are, from their very nature, destitute of all genuine
feeling or passion, and hence, at best, resolve themselves into a mere cold display of artistic dexterity,
where the attention of the audience is kept alive
by a succession of epigrammatic points, carefully
balanced antitheses, elaborate metaphors, and welltuned cadences, where the manner is everything,
the matter nothing. To look to such sources for
historical information is obviously absurd. Success
would in every case be grossly exaggerated, defeat
carefully concealed, or interpreted to mean victory.
The friends and allies of the sovereign would be
daubed with fulsome praise, his enemies overwhelmed by a load of the foulest calumnies. We
cannot learn what the course of events really was,
but merely under what aspect the ruling powers
desired that those events should be viewed, and
frequently the misrepresentations are so flagrant
that we are unable to detect even a vestige of truth
lurking below. We derive from these effusions
some knowledge with regard to the personal history
3z